The Witching Hour
by ohmygahdcaseyy
Summary: this tells the story of how Ruby first became a witch, and then how she became a demon. First stab at fanfic, just so you know!


Just to let you know, this is my first fanfic ever. I chose to write it from Ruby's point of view because she's my favorite girl character and I can never write from a guy's perspective. So, voila! Read and enjoy.

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Ruby wove between the trees, her feet barely making a sound upon the damp leaves. In one hand she held the hem of her skirt so it wouldn't get wet, and in the other she carried a freshly dead chicken, the blood still pouring from its throat. She wasn't sure if that was the kind of sacrifice that Tammi wanted, but it was a sacrifice all the same. After all, her father would kill her too if he realized that one of the farm's few chickens had been killed by his only daughter. And for purposes condemned by their Puritan colony, no less!

Shaking those thoughts from her head, Ruby finally arrived at the secret clearing. As far as she could tell, Tammi wasn't there yet. Good, she had time. Gently sitting down on a tree stump, Ruby reflected upon her choice. Why had she accepted Tammi's offer? Was she really so power-hungry? She didn't quite think so. Was it the lure of something forbidden, something unknown and wonderful? That was a more likely answer. As she sat there, deep in thought, a hand snaked itself over her eyes, and Ruby jumped and almost screamed in fright.

"Quiet, Ruby. It's only me." Tammi stepped out from behind Ruby, smiling slyly and shaking out her long, dark hair. Her friend looked mysterious and beautiful in the moonlight, with her plain white nightgown practically glowing and her hair spread out in tendrils over her shoulders. Ruby herself had been too afraid to wear her only good nightgown, and had instead worn the dress she normally used for household chores. Immediately she felt inadequate. Tammi always did that to people. And now Ruby knew where she got that irresistibility from, and that she would have it too.

"I'm sorry, Tammi. It's just… dark." Ruby toyed with the end of her braid and looked down at the dead chicken, its head lolling from side to side in the mud. "I brought the sacrifice," she murmured, afraid to speak it aloud. When Tammi had spoken it, she had said it casually, almost as if it wasn't strange to speak of witchcraft and hell. But from Ruby's lips it sounded like a joke.

"Hmm," Tammi stooped down to look closer. She ran a finger across its slit throat, noting the clean line and drips of red staining it's bright, white feathers an unnatural rust color. "That will do, although next time I ask for a sacrifice I mean something… larger. You hear me?" Ruby nodded wordlessly. She was so close to the power now, there was no chance she was letting it go away. "Right then, are we ready to start the ritual?" Tammi withdrew a long, shining silver knife, and tilted it back and forth in the dim light. From beneath the fabric of her nightgown she pulled out a small square of black fabric on which strange symbols were drawn in the chalk used in the day school, and a small pouxh that contained some dried herbs. At the sight of the knife, Ruby shrank back, but at an exasperated sigh from Tammi, she crept closer.

Laying the cloth square on the moist earth, Tammi opened the bag of herbs and then sprinkled them over the cloth, chanting strange words that rolled off her tongue in rolling tones. As she chanted, she raised the knife, and with a deft motion slit her wrist so that blood rained down onto the ground. As the warm liquid dripped down, Tammi motioned for Ruby to place the dead chicken on top of everything else, but the girl was too shocked to move. Rolling her eyes, Tammi flicked her wrist, and the chicken rose up from the ground and flopped onto the cloth. Its neck twisted at an unnatural angle, and Ruby felt like it's blank eyes were looking straight into her soul.

"Ruby, give me your wrist." When she didn't move, Tammi said it again. "Ruby, give me your damned wrist!" As if she couldn't control it, Ruby felt her arm rise up and turn over, palm upward, waiting for the blow. When it came, it was a shock. Her vein was open to the night air, and the cold seeped into her body and spread outward. It rushed up her arm, into her chest, and into her mind, until all she could think about was the cold. She was shivering and shaking, teeth chattering, lips turning blue. She felt her eyes roll back into her head, until all she saw was black and all she could feel was cold. Cold, icy, cold. Then fire. Flames flashed before her eyes, dancing and leaping, creating shapes and symbols inside her head. There was a sudden pressure on her wrist, and as her eyes rolled back she saw that Tammi's wrist was pressed to hers, their blood mingling and mixing. Tammi's blue eyes were gone, now they were as black and bottomless as her hair. Her hair streamed out in the wind, and her nightgown was tangled in her legs. She looked like a wild beast, and Ruby screamed in fright, pulling her wrist away and breaking the connection.

Tammi's eyes turned back to their normal blue and her hair and nightgown fell softly back in place. It was as if nothing had ever happened. The only thing that told of what had just taken place was the deep red stain on the white of her dress. But as Ruby watched in amazement, with a flick of her hand Tammi banished the blood from her gown. It just faded away. Looking down, Ruby saw streaks of the same deep color all over her dress. She looked up at Tammi for guidance, and she nodded and tilted her head, daring her to try it. Ruby took a deep breath, and then flicked her wrist as Tammi had, concentrating all her being on getting rid of the marks. And it worked. They vanished into the dark, little more than a memory.

And suddenly, Ruby laughed. The power was in her, flowing through her veins, in her very soul. She blinked, and felt her blue-green eyes change to the same black that Tammi's had been, then blinked and changed them back. She felt like a new person. But as she rejoiced in her newfound powers and strength, Tammi crept up beside her and bent down to whisper in her ear.

"Remember, Ruby, that you only have the power because of me. Never forget that."

"I shan't," Ruby said, hardly hearing her. "I shan't."

Five years passed. Ruby and Tammi remained close friends, their powers linked and endless. Whatever they wanted, they could have. Ruby had married one of the bigger farmers in the town, and had a new baby girl, while Tammi was engaged to the biggest landowner in all of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Everyone in Salem envied the two women, although none would ever admit it because jealousy was a sin. No one knew the real source of their luck, and they were careful to ensure no one ever knew.

Ruby woke one night to the sound of her daughter crying. As she swept over their home's clean-swept floorboards, she saw a shadow move outside the window, and had to cover her mouth with one hand to keep from screaming. Creeping towards the windowsill, she bent out to discover Tammi crouched underneath the window box, pinching off a leaf of basil and crumbling it into the dirt.

"Tammi? Whatever are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Ruby motioned for her to meet her out back, and gently pulled her daughter from the bed and held her to her chest. Outside, the night was cool and dark, and it brought back many memories of spells and incantation said in the woods, of hopes and dreams whispered into the night. For a moment, Tammi let her eyes rest on the babe in her friend's arms, and then she spoke.

"I felt the power waning. I think we need to a new sacrifice. A bigger one." Tammi was blunt, the mysterious edge was gone from her voice.

"A bigger one? But the last was James's cow!" Ruby whispered furiously, thinking of how angry her husband had been when he discovered it missing.

"Bigger than a cow," Tammi repeated, as an eerie smile lit up her face. "Like a child." She gazed longing at the child in her friend's arms and reached out her arms for it. "Come, let's into the wood now and do it." Ruby was in shock. Instinctively she clutched the babe closer to her.

"Not my child! Someone else's, please! Or none at all!" The child nuzzled into her neck and Ruby felt her slow heartbeat against her own faster one. Immediately, Tammi's eyes flared up, she blinked and switched them to the bottomless black, swirling pools of magic.

"Do not forget who has the power her, Ruby. You said you would never forget. Come, give her to me." She reached out a hand again, but Ruby flattened herself against the cool wall of her house and turned her head away.

"I haven't forgotten, Tammi, I haven't. But this is my child, my baby!"

"Then you have forgotten. And I am going to be very angry if you continue to forget. Give her to me, or you'll be the sacrifice and this child will grow up without a mother, if she grows up at all." Tammi pulled the knife out from beneath her skirts like she had those many years ago and held it up menacingly in Ruby's face. She took a step closer. And another.

"No!" Like lightening, Ruby tried to grab the knife out of Tammi's hands, but only knocked it to the floor. As she dove to get it, one hand still protectively wrapped around her child, Tammi began to chant. As she took hold of the knife, and pointed it up to her friend, she saw that rather than being angry, Tammi was smiling. A sly, powerful smile. She raised her hand, finished the chant, and flicked her wrist, long fingers pointed delicately at Ruby. And then her body was cold and hot, cold and hot. And fires leapt and burned across her vision. Then it all faded to black, and she felt herself melting, melting, one hand still gripping the knife, the other holding her child.

And then nothing.


End file.
